Crash-Landing
by SonicGirl4Ever
Summary: Coulson glanced at her, and then immediately turned his gaze toward the front of the room. Skye's eyes instinctively followed, and her jaw involuntarily dropped. What looked like to be a raccoon was standing in a transparent glass tube, and looked very, very pissed off. "This is the special case I was talking about."
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I have **_**never **_**watched Marvel's: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, so I honestly have no clue about the personality of these people, how their base of operations operates, and so on. Please know this in advance; if this bothers you (because everyone will probably be OOC), then click the 'Back' button. **

**I would absolutely **_**love **_**it if you could give me some insight on the characters in the comments. No flames; they are annoying and will be ignored. I'm warning you right now, so don't complain in the reviews. **

**Enjoy. **

Skye briskly followed Coulson through the halls of the S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters. He had called her back to inform her of a 'special case' – they had never seen _anything _like it. Many of the facility's doctors and scientists seemed to be all over the case; they were rushing back and forth, informing each other of updates and muttering amongst themselves.

As she followed Coulson deeper into the facility, she realized that she had never really been in this part of the building yet. She wasn't a high enough in her rank, but at the moment, no one really seemed to care. Whatever was happening was a big deal, and they were inviting her to be a part of it, whether they were aware or not.

Coulson pulled out a card, waved in once over the scanner on the wall, and stepped into a lab-like room. Skye followed suit, and she quickly glanced around the room. It was completely sterile, with different and strange looking devices littered on tables. Scientists and doctors alike were moving about the large room, holding items that ranged from small electronic devices to old-fashioned clipboards.

"Coulson", she said cautiously. "What – what's going on?"

He glanced at her, and then immediately turned his gaze toward the front of the room. Skye's eyes instinctively followed, and her jaw involuntarily dropped.  
What looked like to be a raccoon was standing in a transparent glass tube, and looked very, _very _pissed off. It wasn't snarling or scratching – _oh, _no – it was screaming, and pounding on the glass furiously. Its eyes burned with rage and looked to be swearing death to everyone in the room.  
It was even wearing clothes. The orange jumpsuit it sported was dirty and seemed otherworldly. She pondered if this creature was even from Earth, but before she could voice her thoughts, Coulson's own voice flooded in through her ears.

"This is the special case I was talking about."

She opened her mouth, and then closed it again. She was at a loss for words, which was something that rarely happened with someone like herself. Eventually, she got her voice to work.

"Where did it come from?"

He turned to the right and slowly walked over to a window that displayed a larger sterile room. She followed behind him, and had to stop herself from letting her jaw drop again. A small 'space ship' was being examined by multiple suited S.H.I.E.L.D scientists. It was dirty and heavily dented, and looked to have gone through a rough crash.

"The raccoon can _fly_?"

He nodded, and turned back to the subject in question. "We found it alone inside the ship, so the chances that it flew the craft are … pretty obvious."

She looked back up at the raccoon, and noticed that its screaming had died down a little, and was now silently seething with rage, one arm propped up against the glass over its head and grinding its teeth. She looked over the raccoon silently, taking note of its humanoid stance and its destructive personality. Were there more like it? What was its gender? Judging by its personality, she determined it to be a male.  
Looking a little closer, she realized with a little sympathy that there was blood on his jumpsuit, and a gash on his head. She didn't have time to alert anyone because she was whisked away out of the room seconds later.

. . .

A few hours later, Coulson was called into the room again. Skye followed behind him, simply because she was interested and no one had said she couldn't tag along. The research team had found something else in the fallen space craft. He had been warned that it didn't look like much, but was giving off strange readings.

When they entered the room, Skye noticed that the transparent tube was empty. She followed Coulson to a table in the far left corner, where a scientist was scanning a small wooden stick. She wore a face of confusion as she and Coulson approached the table.

"A _stick_?"

The scientist's eyes didn't leave the stick. "It _looks _like a stick, but it's … giving off strange readings."

Coulson moved over to look at the scanner, and Skye turned her attention to the empty tube again. Where had they taken the raccoon? She wandered a little closer, and heard a crash nearby. It was muffled, and she wouldn't have heard it if she hadn't been standing so close to an observation window. She slowly wandered closer and peered inside, and nearly gasped at what she saw.

The raccoon had been stripped of his clothing and was lying face-down on a metallic table. His arms and legs were tethered down, and he was struggling furiously. She heard muffled screams of rage through the window, and although it was hard to decipher just what it was saying, she could understand a few of the words that got through. She heard things like _'let me go' _and _'I'll kill you all'_, and she heard some strange phrases like _'flarkers' _and _'d'ast you all'. _

What caught her attention the most were the metal implants on his back. She watched in horror as one of the masked scientists picked up a metallic hook-like scalpel and approached the raccoon's back. His own expression upon seeing the scientist approach matched her own, and she let out an involuntarily half whimper, half gasp as the raccoon's screams of pain filtered through the door.

Her whimper-gasp caught Coulson's attention, and he called down to her. "Skye. What are you doing?"

She looked up at him and pointed to the window. "What are they doing?! They're hurting him!"

The scientist next to Coulson stood up and looked down at Skye. "They're just examining him, don't worry."

She turned back to the window as another muffled scream filtered in through the door. "Examining?! They're _torturing _him!"

She looked over and noticed a door a little ways to the right. The scientist noticed her gaze, and took a step forward. "No, don't go in there."

She shook her head and threw open the door as another scream tore from the raccoon's throat. His screams were much louder and clear now that she was in the same room as the raccoon, and everyone looked up in shock as Skye ran down the steps.

"Stop! Let him go! Can't you see you're hurting him?!"

Coulson and the scientist ran into the room, and Coulson grabbed her arm and pulled her back. She struggled for mere seconds before everyone in the room stopped what they were doing.

"I can _understand _every word you flarkers say, and I can feel every d'ast thing you idiots stick into me! You all think I'm just some _frickin' _animal! Big news, you flarkin' humies! I'm _not_!"

For a moment, everything was silent. Coulson tugged at her arm and pulled her back outside while the other scientist closed the door to the examination room. Coulson opened his mouth to speak, but Skye cut him off.

"What are they _doing _to him in there?! They're treating him like he's some – lab experiment! He's hurt, and scared, and he has no clue what's going on, only that he's hurting and we're all freaks who want to kill him!"

Coulson grabbed her shoulders to try to steady her, but it didn't do any good.

"What if there's more like him? Do you _really _want his kind coming to Earth only to find that we're all crazy barbarians? Think about it."

Coulson cringed and whipped around, throwing open the doors again and speaking with the scientist quietly. A few moments later, she heard him yell out that the examination was over. She breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the raccoon wouldn't be tortured any longer.

. . .

The wooden stick let out a crack as it elongated slightly, and another branch came out of the bottom end.

**Please review and let me know how the characters are being handled. Thanks! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank-you for all the reviews!**

**Enjoy.**

"What do you _mean _'Rocket is on Earth'?!"

Peter Quill groaned underneath Gamora's threatening glare. She was _really _pissed off, and Drax's stare from across the room wasn't helping at all. He sighed and ran a hand down the side of his face tiredly.

"I mean that his pod crash-landed on my home planet."

"_Crashed_?" Gamora said angrily. "You should have listened when he said the pod wasn't going to fly right."

Peter threw his hands into the air. "I know, I know!" It was true – Rocket had warned him that the pod was dysfunctional, but Peter hadn't agreed to let him fix it, simply because he was paranoid that Rocket was going to add some weird upgrade to the craft behind his back.

Gamora quietly sighed and sat down on one of the benches onboard the Milano. "What of Groot?"

Peter shrugged sheepishly. "No clue. I can't get a signal from the pod at all."

"Then I guess it's settled then," Gamora stated solemnly. "We have to go to Earth, and figure out what happened to them."

Peter gave her an accusing look. "Hey, wait a minute, that's my line! _I'm _Star-Lord and the captain of the ship."

Gamora groaned and turned away, scoffing. "Does it matter?"

. . .

"Why haven't you put him out yet?"

A female scientist threw her clipboard down onto a table and ran a hand through her hair. "We're trying, but he's much too dangerous to get close to right now. We don't know how strong he is or what he's capable of because _someone _decided to end the examination prematurely," she said, giving him an accusing look.

"You were _hurting _him. You know we don't readily torture someone unless the need calls for it, and right now, there's _no need. _What we _do _need is a painless, thorough examination."

The scientist crossed her arms impatiently. "What do you expect us to do then? No one can get close enough to administer a sedative."

Coulson paced for a moment in deep thought, seemed to get an idea, and turn back to the scientist. "We don't need sedative." He turned to a nearby agent.

"I need you to get Skye out here."

. . .

Skye briskly walked into the room, and was immediately 'greeted' with the sound of angry arguing. She looked this way and that, and when she spotted Coulson, she immediately walked over to him. "What do you want?"

The arguing ceased, and everyone turned to look at her.

Coulson turned around and motioned to a one-way window. She looked in and saw the raccoon glaring angrily in a white-tiled room. He looked even angrier than the last time she had seen him, but she also traced a small amount of fear in his brown eyes. They shifted this way and that, as if he were calculating something with deep thought.

"I need you to step inside and calm the raccoon down so we can perform a full examination."

"We can't risk her," someone said. "It's too dangerous," another muttered.

Coulson motioned for them to shut up, and turned to look back at Skye. "You're the only one he might not recognize as a threat. We don't have much of a choice. It's either you calm him down, or we'll have to restrain and forcefully sedate him."

She took another look at the raccoon, and nodded. "Let's do it."

There was a chorus of groans and sighs; obviously, the majority of those gathered in the room disliked the idea of sending in a lower-rank agent to calm the creature down, but the decision had been made. Coulson handed her a radio.

"The room is soundproof from the outside, so you'll need this to communicate." She nodded and shook herself out, mentally preparing herself for whatever was to come.

The door to the room was quickly opened and she walked in before the raccoon had time to escape. He didn't make a move to escape, however, which slightly unnerved her. He just turned his head slowly to face her and glared at her with a seething rage that made her bite her lip in slight fear. He eyed her up and down briefly, searching for a syringe or weapon of some sort.

"… Hey there."

His ear twitched at her voice; this was the same person who had stopped the experiments. Upon recognizing her voice, he turned and spat onto the ground, keeping his eyes locked on her.  
Everyone else who had entered the chamber had been growled at, and he had threatened them angrily, either with words or actions.  
One person had gotten too close, and he had lashed out mercilessly at them, managing to give them a deep cut on their arm. They had freaked out and went to have it examined immediately for diseases or infections.

"Um… I'm not going to hurt you…?"

"Then why the hell are you here?" he growled, glaring at her.

Her eyes widened and she stepped back a little, but she quickly regained her composure, knowing that the others were still watching.

Sighing, she took a step forward. "Look, I honestly don't want to be in here with you, either. But I don't really have a choice because it was either I come in here to talk to you, or everybody _else _gets to knock you out."

"Who are you people? And why are you in particular being so nice to me? A second ago you all wanted to rip me apart."

She hesitated, and then spoke into her radio. "Can we trust him with our information?"

A few moments later, Coulson's voice came through. "If it'll get him to cooperate."

She was about to speak when she heard him talk in the most non-threatening voice she'd ever heard him use.

"Lemme see that."

She looked down at the radio and back up at the raccoon in confusion. "This?"

He nodded. "Yeah, that. Gimme it."

She hesitated, but passed it over to him. If she complied, he might do the same. Once it was in his grasp, he immediately started dismantling it. She gasped and held her arms out. "Wait, wait! What are you doing?"

The raccoon waved her off and continued working on it, his fingers flying over wires and components. "Just lemme work. Anyways, who are you people?"

She cleared her throat, and fell into a trance as she watched him 'work'.  
"I'm an agent of the government agency S.H.I.E.L.D. We investigate anything out of the ordinary to protect life as we know it from anything dangerous. I'm Skye. I'm a field agent. And you are…?"

He pulled the partially destroyed radio up to his teeth and snapped a wire. "Rocket."

She smiled and rubbed her arm. "… Cute name."

Rocket stopped working to stare up at her. She looked away and cleared her throat again before continuing. "Anyway, um, I'm helping you because I didn't like what they were doing to you."

Rocket reached into the mess of wires and yanked out a round chip-like piece of metal, and tossed it aside carelessly.

Skye watched him for a bit longer before continuing her interrogation. "So, Rocket… are there more like you? Do you have a team or something?"

He gave a small nod, but didn't say anything more. He held up the radio, examined it once more, and then passed the radio back to her.

"There ya go."

She stared at it in confusion. "What … What did you do?"

He shrugged. "It sounded horrible." She took his response as a silent 'figure it out yourself, dummy', and tested it. "Coulson? Can you hear me?"

Moments later, Coulson's voice came out loud and clear – literally. The sound quality was so good, it was almost like he was there. "Skye, what were you thinking?"

She couldn't find the words to reply. She stared at Rocket in wonder. "You're amazing…"

He was about to respond when the door was opened again, and two armored agents walked in carrying what looked like hypodermic needles. Rocket's eyes flicked up at them in fear and anger, and he jumped up, growling.  
Skye stood up and looked at them in confusion. "Guys, I've got this under control. He's just scared and confused, but he's really just –"

Coulson's voice came in through the radio, clear as ever, but what he said made her skin go pale.

"Skye, they're HYDRA! They're not –" He didn't have time to finish, because there was only static coming from the radio, which meant his radio had been destroyed. She looked back up to see the two guards had advanced toward Rocket.

"No, wait!" She rushed over, but the guard tossed her aside. She stumbled, and heard a stifled shout come from Rocket as the guards held him down and stuck him with the needle. He thrashed a moment before falling limp. She was about to stand up to get Rocket away from the HYDRA agents, but had to cover her head when the one-way window was shattered.

Her blood ran cold when she heard an ear-splitting roar of anger in three simple words:

"I AM GROOT!"

**Review please! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Another chapter! I just realized that this is my first crossover story. Hooray! Please let me know if I'm making the SHIELD characters too OOC. I really don't know much about them, except what's on the wiki. **

**I've also decided to change S.H.I.E.L.D to SHIELD. I don't like putting all the .'s inbetween each letter. XD.**

**Enjoy.**

"I AM GROOT!"

Skye heard the sounds of startled SHIELD and HYDRA agents alike screaming in terror as the sound of something large and heavy pounded into the tiled room. She quickly uncurled herself from her defensive position and looked up, and let out a short scream when she saw the tree-like figure towering above her. She scrambled to the side of the room, and her back hit the tiled wall behind her with a smack. The sound bounced off the walls, causing the tree figure to turn around to look at her. She gasped as it looked into her eyes curiously.

"I am… Groot?"

She simply stared at it, a little too afraid to move, for fear that the tree-creature would attack. It didn't seem like a threat, but it was still large, and could easily hurt or kill her if it wanted to. She saw it turn around and lean down to pick Rocket up.

"No!"

Thinking quickly, she moved away from the wall and scrambled over to one of her fallen SHIELD agents, mentally noting that they may not even _be _SHIELD, and grabbed a gun from his belt. She whipped around and shot at the tree-creature. The reaction was immediate; it let out a roar of pain, sending her reeling away with the gun in hand. She was about to shoot again when one of the scientists ran in.

"Stop! Don't shoot!"

She stared at the scientist, but hesitated. This could be a HYDRA agent, but the look of fear in his eyes told her that he was from SHIELD.

"That's the 'stick' we found on the ship with the raccoon," he continued. "I don't think it wants to hurt anyone."

They both snapped their heads back at the tree when they heard the sound of wood creaking. They watched in amazement as the bullet that had hit it in the chest began to close itself up before their eyes. After it fully healed, it turned to look at them, a gentle smile playing across its lips. She looked down at its arms and sighed in relief when she noticed Rocket was safely in its arms. The tree _was _just trying to help him.

"I am Groot?"

Skye and the scientist exchanged glances.

"What did it say?"

Skye shook her head. "Don't ask me."

Moments later, an agent walked in, and looked relieved to find them.

"Oh, _there _you guys are! C'mon, let's get you out of here and into – GAAAAH!"

Skye and the scientist gasped as the agent shook vigorously in front of them, blue sparks of electricity darting across his skin before he finally fell to the ground, tense and still shaking before finally passing out.

Melinda, who had just shot the agent with an electric gun, smirked and walked over the agent's limp body.

"HYDRA agent," she explained coolly. "Get the tree and raccoon. We have a lot to discuss."

. . .

"We're about to enter the Earth's atmosphere. Hang on to something," Star-Lord said as he guided the Milano to Earth. They planned to land on the exact spot that Rocket had crashed in hopes that they would get a clue as to where Rocket and Groot disappeared to.

As they neared the spot where Rocket crashed, they noticed that the spot was occupied with multiple humans who were scanning the area. It was completely closed off, and the men and women were armed.

"Ugh, I _knew _it!"

Drax looked up from his knives. "What did you know?"

Peter picked up his Element Gun and charged it up. "Rocket was taken by some government agency that's crazy for aliens and shit…"

Gamora put her sword away immediately. "Go unarmed and let them take us. It will bring us closer to Rocket."

Peter shook his head. "No way, Gam. They won't believe us if we tell them we're with the raccoon. And even if they do, they won't let us off easily. Rocket's probably already proven himself to be a real asshole."

"Then what do you propose we do?" Gamora asked irritably.

"_I _go out there and tell 'em we're here for Rocket and Groot. If they attack, you all come out and we forcefully find out where they are."

Gamora shook her head. "Quill, think! Fighting them will do nothing. It will only decrease our chances of rescuing Rocket. We need to gain their trust."

Drax stood up. "I agree with Friend Gamora. We must be wary of our actions if we wish to see Friend Rocket again."

Peter thought for a moment more, and finally gave a small nod. "Fine. Yeah. Let's do it."

. . .

"What does HYDRA want with Rocket?"

Melinda looked over at the raccoon who was currently sleeping on a table in one of the many medical rooms in the SHIELD building. An IV was inserted into his arm, and he was attached to a heart monitor. Groot stood nearby, keeping an eye on his sleeping friend worriedly.

"HYDRA saw what he can do. He's a mechanical genius, and they want to use him."

"I am Groot."

Both Skye and Melinda looked up at Groot, and exchanged glances.

"I think all he can say is 'I am Groot'", Skye said.

Melina shook her head in confusion. "Does it have any meaning?"

Skye shrugged. "Probably. I can't understand him at all."

"I am Groot."

Skye tried talking to him. "Um… Groot? Is that your name?"

"I am Groot."

She shrugged. "Could you … maybe, nod?"

Groot nodded. Skye sighed in relief; it was a start.

"Okay… Is Rocket your friend?" A nod.

"Are you both a part of a team?" Another nod.

"Are they coming right now?" Groot hesitated, but he had faith in his friends. He nodded with a smile.

Rocket stirred and let out a moan. All looked over at him, and he opened his eyes blearily. After a moment, his eyes snapped open, and he jumped up, ripping the IV from his arm and tearing the heart monitor off. Everyone jumped up at once as he tumbled off of the table and onto the ground. Groot gasped and reached down to pick up his friend, but Rocket growled at him fearfully. Moments later, he blinked a couple of times and stared at Groot in confusion.

"Groot?"

Groot smiled and picked him up gently. "I am Groot."

Rocket nodded. "Yeah… yeah… Ow, eesh." He reached down and grasped his wrist tightly, and both women noticed some blood was dripping out of the wound from the IV. He had ripped it out at an angle, causing the skin to rip. Skye stepped forward, reaching out to bandage the wound.

"Here, let me –"

"No! Get back!"

Skye jumped back and pulled her hand away. Melinda grabbed a bandage from the cabinet and stepped forward fearfully to bandage the wound. Rocket's reaction was immediate; he growled and lashed out at Melinda fearfully.

"I said stay away!"

Melinda scoffed and tossed the bandage roll over to Rocket, who jumped out of the way in fear. "Fine. Help yourself."

Skye pursed her lips. This wasn't the Rocket that she had met in the soundproof room. This was someone who was terrified, and who didn't like to be touched. She remembered the implants on his back, and suddenly realized that Rocket may have, at one point, had a bad experience with medical supplies.

"Melinda, wait." Melinda turned to face her, and looked at her quizzically. Skye walked closer to her as Groot leaned down once more to pick Rocket up and place him gently onto the table.

"Look," she whispered. "I saw his back. He's got these weird metal implants on his back. I think… I think he's been through a lot. Before. We should be careful if we want him to trust us."

"Then _you _go reason with him," Melinda said coldly. Skye glanced over at Rocket, who was staring down at his hands stiffly. She moved past Melinda and picked up the roll of bandages again.

"Rocket, it's alright. I'm not gonna hurt you. I promise."

Rocket stared at her hesitantly, but immediately shook it off. He held out his arm and looked away casually. "Fine," he said gruffly. "Do whatever."

She sighed yet another breath of relief and began to gently wrap his wrist with the bandage. Groot looked on happily, feeling that Skye was someone they could both trust. Once Skye finished bandaging his arm, he hopped off the table and headed for the door.

"Where's my ship? I gotta fix her if I ever wanna get outta here."

Melinda blocked the door. "You can't."

"Whaddaya mean I can't?" He crossed his arms and tried to push past Melinda, who kicked him away gently. Rocket stumbled backward before growling lowly at her.

"Watch it."

Skye stood in front of Rocket also. "HYDRA wants you. It's too risky to let you go wandering around the building. We don't know who's who at the moment."

Rocket groaned and climbed back up onto the table. It took a moment, but when he finally got up onto the table, he let out a huff of frustration and glared at them in annoyance. "Who the hell is HYDRA?"

Rocket wouldn't get his answer. In fact, the only answer he got was a cough from Skye. Melinda immediately looked at the door in alarm. "Gas. We're being –!" She broke into a string of coughs, and eventually fell to her knees. Skye did the same, and Rocket did, also. Groot looked at them in worry as the door suddenly burst open, and he looked on in alarm before he was suddenly bombarded with endless gunshots.

He felt his bark burn as the bullets went through him, and he was down by the time the HYDRA agents bound Skye and Melinda in ropes and took Rocket away.

**Please review! I need to know if I'm making them OOC!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry this chapter took so long! **

**Enjoy!**

"Peter! This was _not _the plan!" Gamora practically screamed this into Peter's ear as the Milano began to fall nose-first into the Earth's atmosphere. Peter was clinging onto the controls, Gamora was hanging on to his seat, and Drax was laughing all the way.

Gamora grit her teeth in anger. Peter wasn't the smartest out of the Guardians, as that title belonged to Rocket, but he also wasn't the first person to make brash decisions. That title belonged to Drax, thanks to the stupid "plan" he pulled on Knowhere.  
But that still didn't give Peter an excuse to go nuts and crash-land the damned thing into the ground. How would they ever get back up into space without a space craft?

"Why are we doing this? Give me the controls!"

Peter swayed his upper body away from her in a childish way to show that he wasn't going to comply.  
"No way! I have a plan. You don't know it yet, but it _is _a plan."

Gamora was about to respond when her eyes widened and she screamed "Watch out!" as they crashed into the ground close to the area where Rocket's craft supposedly landed. Everything shook as rocks, sand, and debris flew everywhere. Gamora went tumbling to the back of the Milano, where she latched onto Drax and dug her nails into his shoulder. His response was a grunt of pain, and as the Milano stopped shaking from the impact, he threw her off his body and unbuckled his seatbelt.

"Do not touch me, woman!"

She grunted as she stood up, holding her upper arm in pain and gave him a _very _serious death glare.  
"You—"

"SHH!"

Everyone fell silent as the sound of voices outside seeped in through the hairline cracks of the Milano. After a few moments of silence, Gamora spoke up.

"Peter", she whispered. "We need to do something. Now."

He waved her off. "I know, I know!" In all honesty, this was how the plan worked out in his head. The crash would have caught the attention of any nearby government agents. The only problem was that he hadn't thought of anything further than that.

He sighed. This was his responsibility. It was his fault they were even in this mess. They were out here rescuing both Rocket and Groot because of his paranoia. Because of him, his entire team was in danger. They could all be captured and possibly killed if the humans got the wrong idea. He slowly stood up and went to open the door.  
Gamora and Drax immediately took notice and shook their heads vigorously.  
"What are you doing?" they whispered frantically. Peter gave them an apologetic smile and opened the door. After the door was fully opened, he stepped outside into the daylight and smiled.

"Hey guys", he said coolly. He was really nervous as hell, but he had to play it cool. "The name's Peter Quill, but you can just call me Star-Lord."

One of the agents thrust a gun into his face. "Hands up where I can see them."

Peter bit his lip. "Wait, guys. I'm just here for –"

The same agent thrust the gun closer into his face. "I said put your hands up!"

Peter slowly complied, but just as he did so, the door suddenly burst open and Gamora and Drax came jumping out, weapons ready and in a battle stance. Peter groaned and let his hands fall back down to his sides. "Guys, you weren't supposed to come out!"

Gamora shook her head, her eyes never leaving the SHIELD agents. "We are a team. If we're going to rescue Rocket, we're doing it together."

The SHIELD agents suddenly lowered the weapons. "Are you here for your missing comrades?"

Peter threw his head skyward and hissed in happiness. "Yes! _That's _what we're here for!"

The SHIELD agents didn't move. Peter rolled his eyes before sighing, "One looks like a raccoon and the other is a tree that only says 'I am Groot'."

That was all the proof the agents needed before they completely lowered their weapons.

"You'll need to come with us. No harm will come to you or your team."

. . .

Rocket slowly opened his eyes. Everything was blurry, bright and loud. He slowly blinked away the bleariness of his surroundings and groaned. Something was shoved up his nose, and he twisted his head away to relieve himself of the uncomfortable feeling. He found that he couldn't, and his eyes widened more. The sound of machinery beeping and the unmistakable sound of surgical instruments being placed onto a metallic tray filled his ears, and his eyes snapped open fully.  
He clenched his fists and thrashed when he suddenly realized that he was in a terrible position.

There were straps on his wrists and ankles, tethering him down onto a table that was diagonal with the ground. A nasal catheter was shoved up his nose, and he had an electroencephalogram band wrapped tightly around his head. Countless wires protruded from the band, and the same went for his arms and neck. Needles that were connected to wires were shoved into his skin, some with visible liquid slowly entering his bloodstream and some with his own blood being sucked out of him.  
He finally looked around to see that there were numerous people who seemed to be Peter's species moving about around him.

"You flarkers! Lemme go! I ain't doin' this shit!"

They ignored him and talked among each other. "He woke up", he heard one of them say.

"Perfect", said another. "Now we can start the procedure."

For the first time, one of the females walked up to the table and spoke to him. "I know you can understand us, so listen up. You're going to make this easy for us, or we're going to… do some unpleasant things to you. _Don't _make this hard, and _don't _make me repeat myself."

Rocket growled at them, barring his teeth in an attempt to look threatening. "Like _hell _I'm making this 'easy' for you! Let. Me. _Outta here_!"

She sighed and turned to look at one of the men behind a glass window. He shrugged and pressed a button, sending a powerful electric shock through the raccoon's body. He screamed in pain for moment before the electric shock died down. His body was left spasming painfully. He screwed his eyes shut as the pain lingered before finally settling down.

The same woman walked up to the table again, cocking her head at him in a questioning manner.

"We could do this the easy way or the hard way. The choice is yours."

Rocket took in a shaky breath and shook his head. "Don't… Don't do this. Please. I didn't do any—"

"No, you didn't do anything", she said sternly, interrupting him. He looked up at her with fearful eyes as she continued.

"In fact, the only thing that _you _have for _us_…" She reached down and poked his head. "… is that brain of yours."

"No… I'm not—"

"We want to know why you're so smart, no matter what it takes. And you _will _make it easy for us."

**Please review! I honestly have NO CLUE whatsoever on HYDRA. Iunno, if there's a menacing and cruel female HYDRA agent, this is her… whoever she is.**

**Review please!**


	5. Chapter 5

Skye opened her eyes and coughed. Her arms ached and screamed in agony, and she was lying painfully on the side of her face. She tried to lift her head and was able to get a glimpse of Melinda next to her, whose arms were bound with ropes. As Melinda began to come around, Skye realized that she too had ropes tied around her wrists. She grunted as she pushed herself into a sitting position, and cringed when her muscles ached in protest.

Melinda grunted as she sat up, too, and Skye heard an audible _crack _as Melinda forcefully dislocated her wrist and pulled her hand out of the ropes. Skye cringed when she heard another crack as the wrist was put back into place, and then she felt her own binds unraveling.

"Are you alright?"

Skye nodded and immediately jumped up the moment she was free. She swayed a little due to the lingering dizzy feeling she had from being gassed as she did so. HYDRA had obviously taken Rocket, and she had to find out where they had taken him before it was too late. Whatever they had planning, it was bad, for both SHIELD _and_ Rocket. She suddenly remembered Groot, and turned around to search for him.

"Groot?"

She heard a low, rumbling noise come from behind the medical table and stepped over to look over it. She couldn't help but give a small smile when she saw Groot, good as new, gently handling a small mouse in his large, wooden hands. It squeaked as it crawled all over Groot's arm and hand, and the tree creature smiled down at it happily. His smile was only half-hearted, however, as Skye saw the sadness lurking in his eyes; he was worried for Rocket.

Melinda opened the door. "C'mon," she said. "We need to go find Coulson."

. . .

When Melinda and Skye walked into the research lab, they were greeted with a sight that would freak any normal person out. Three unknown and _very _strange-looking people were standing in the lab, and arguing with Coulson and some of the scientists.  
The first that Skye noticed was a beautiful green woman with long, dark hair that ended in a vibrant purple. She also noticed a shirtless and hairless tattooed man with grey skin, and extremely strong-looking arms. Finally, there was a fairly normal-looking blonde man who was wearing a long, red coat. The newcomers looked _very _worried and _very _pissed off.

"Where are they?" Skye heard the green woman speak. She spoke in a collected manner, but the unmistakable sound of simmering anger was managing to get through in her voice, sending chills down her spine.

Coulson was about to speak, when he looked over their shoulders and saw both Melinda and Skye, followed by Groot. The Guardians turned around and their faces lit up in relief when they saw Groot.

"Groot!" The blonde man said eagerly.  
The large, tattooed man smirked and clapped a hand on the shoulder of the tree creature, who hummed in delight. "I am relieved to see you are unharmed and well, Friend Groot!"  
Gamora let loose a small smile, then immediately turned around to face Coulson.

"So, _Coulson. _Where is our fifth member?"

Peter and Drax finally noticed that Rocket was indeed missing, and turned to face Coulson again, completely forgetting that both Melinda and Skye had entered the room.

"He was taken," Skye said suddenly. All in the room turned around to stare at them in shock. Melinda suddenly perked up, seeming to have heard something outside the room. She left Skye to speak with the newcomers as she went out to investigate.  
Once she was gone, Peter turned his attention back to Skye.

"_Taken_?" Peter asked. "By who?"

There was the sound of rough fighting outside.

Skye took in a breath, knowing she would have to explain everything.

"HYDRA."

At that moment, Melinda walked in, lugging behind her a HYDRA agent in a SHIELD uniform.

"I'd say it's time for an interrogation."

. . .

Rocket groaned, and slowly squirmed as much as he could against his restraints. The experimental chemicals used for testing brain functions against different stimuli were making him weak and dizzy. They had been doing this for at least an hour, and the chemicals were damaging him every minute.  
Alone and at a stable pace, the chemicals flowing into his body didn't do much harm, other than making the subject weak. But one hour of being subjected to whatever they were pumping into him, all at once and at a non-stop pace, did a lot of harm. The result was feverish, incoherent mumbling and extreme exhaustion.

HYDRA knew that Rocket wasn't going to simply sit down and calmly let him build whatever they asked of him. They had other means of finding out how he worked, and although it was harmful for Rocket, it was beneficial for them because he was easier to handle when he was weak and restrained, _and _they got results.

The only problem with their plan, and both HYDRA and Rocket knew this, was that the constant introducing of test chemicals into his body would eventually do permanent, irreversible damage. HYDRA was on a time restraint, however, which meant they couldn't really waste time on keeping him comfortable.

The woman who was in charge of the experiment simply watched with a hollow expression as Rocket mumbled incoherently, slowly twisting this way and that. For the most part, he was just saying gibberish; the chemicals had left him weak and feverish. She did, however, catch a few words that somehow stood out from the rest.

"… you h-have to… stop…"

She was not the only one to hear his exhausted pleads, as another agent walked up to her and nodded solemnly.  
"We need to stop. His body can't take any more, and if we continue testing chemicals, he'll die."

She sighed, and pursed her lips, but finally nodded.  
"We don't a lot of time."

. . .

When Melinda finally came back into the room twenty minutes later, she looked a little tired, but otherwise proud and jam-packed with information. She had taken the SHIELD agent, made sure he didn't have anything to kill himself with, and had interrogated him. The others had no clue what she did in there, but by the sounds they had heard during her time with him, she had been breaking some bones.

"It's bad, and we need to rescue your comrade as quickly as possible." Everyone leaned in in worry and fear as she spoke these words.

"They're testing chemicals on him to figure out which parts of his brain are activated according to different stimuli. It's the first step in unlocking his intelligence and implementing it into future HYDRA agents."

Gamora shook her head. "Rocket has cybernetic implants; _that _is what I presume gives him his unmatched intelligence. Testing his natural abilities will do nothing."

"HYDRA will do anything to pursue their goals. In this case, it may mean the eventual death for your friend."

"Shit", Peter said quietly.

"Where are they?" Gamora questioned.

"According to Coulson", Melinda said, "they've taken him to the other SHIELD building, which means that everyone there is a HYDRA agent."

All fell silent in the room. With an entire building of HYDRA agents, it would be very tricky to get inside.

"What is the plan?" Drax asked.

Gamora looked around the room, a small part of a plan forming in her head. "Three of you look Terran. You could all go in as HYDRA agents. Two of you will distract the HYDRA agents in some way, and the other person will find Rocket."

Skye raised her hand. "I'm a hacker. I'll go."

Star-Lord pointed to Melinda. "_She _should be the one to find Rocket. She knows about this HYDRA and SHIELD stuff. I'll go with…?"

Skye gave him a small smile. "Skye."

Peter shrugged and also smiled. "Peter. But you can call me Star-Lord."

Gamora hit him, and he gave her an accusing look before slowly returning to the task at hand.

"What will we do?" Drax asked.

"You, Groot and I will rescue Rocket once he is found and the majority of the HYDRA agents are distracted."

Drax nodded at Gamora before rested back into his seat, a pleased look on his face.

"We need to get moving," Melinda said sternly. All nodded, ready to kill if they had to in order to rescue their friend.

**I heard that Melinda can dislocate her body at will, but I don't know if that's true. It sounded cool, so I added it!**

**Please leave a review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! Here's another chapter!**

Peter looked down at the suit he was currently wearing, feeling oddly strange. As a half-human, he thought he should at least feel a little normal wearing a suit, but no such thing happened. He had been out in space for far too long to ever even think about wearing clothes from Earth again.  
He wasn't allowed to wear his usual clothing for the rescue mission, as he had to look like a SHIELD agent to blend in with Skye.

He took a look at Skye as they made their way toward the other SHIELD building. He had to admit that she was pretty, even though she was too young for him. He sighed quietly; being a Guardian of the Galaxy had changed his morality; a year ago, he wouldn't have thought twice about age when it came to pretty women. Go figure.

Drax, Gamora and Groot were in another vehicle, waiting for the signal to rescue Rocket. If they came with Peter, Skye and Melinda, it would give them all away.  
Peter was jerked quite literally from his thoughts when the car suddenly stopped. He looked up through the window at the large building that read SHIELD.

"This is the place, right?"

Skye nodded as she stepped out of the car, following behind Melinda, who punched in a passcode before the door was opened. "Hurry up. We don't have a lot of time."

Skye nodded and stepped inside with Peter following closely. "Melinda, go find Rocket. Peter and I will figure something out for a distraction."

Peter nodded, but seemed completely lost. Everything just seemed too normal. Skye grabbed his arm and pulled him away as a HYDRA agent walked by from down the hall. Luckily, he hadn't seen Melinda, as she had already gone ahead in search for Rocket.

"C'mon," she said. "I have to find a computer."

. . .

"What do you _mean _we're not getting results?"

The man she was currently talking to threw his hands up into the air. "Exactly what I said. The chemicals aren't reacting correctly with his body! We've tested over _half _of the chemicals available in the lab_, _and nothing is working."

She rolled her eyes. "So test the other half. Is he done _resting_?"

He shook his head and turned around to look at the exhausted raccoon; he was nearly unconscious, but still weakly tugging at his restraints. Every part of his body was limp. Even his tail seemed to be lifelessly dangling off of the table.

"No," the doctor sighed. "If we test any more, he'll die."

She glared hard at him for a moment before slowly speaking through clenched teeth.

"Listen to me very closely. All we need and all _I _want, is to figure out how he works. If he dies, oh well. After we figure him out, I don't care what happens to him. If you're so worried about his death, get over it. I saw some implants on his chest. Mess with those or something. Figure out how he's so intelligent, and when we can test the chemicals again, _test the chemicals again._"

He nodded, and then went back out to the examination table. Rocket's eyes opened upon hearing the man's approach, and his shallow breathing quickened when he saw the man pick up a scalpel. The man brought it down to Rocket's chest, but his eyes strayed up to Rocket's and widened when he saw that Rocket was staring back.  
His eyes were tired, but terrified and even showed a hint of slight anger. They stared at each other for another moment before the man took in a breath and pressed the scalpel into Rocket's chest, cringing when he heard the raccoon let out a weak cry of pain.

. . .

Melinda silently made her way around the building. She hadn't been to this particular SHIELD building in a while, but if her memory was correct, the labs would be somewhere below the first floor. She was about to turn a corner but suddenly stopped and froze when she heard angry arguing coming from a nearby room. She peeked over and was able to get a glimpse of the situation.  
A man and woman in lab coats were arguing in the back room of one of the labs. A window further back showed the lab itself, and in the middle was an examination table with an exhausted raccoon tethered down to it.  
Her eyes hardened when she saw how weak he was; not too long ago, she had seen him for who he was. He was loud, rude, and a little on the angry side. But seeing him now, weakly lying on an examination table and not even fighting back, made her grit her teeth in anger.

"Listen to me very closely," she heard the woman say in a harsh tone. "All we need and all _I _want, is to figure out how he works. If he dies, oh well. After we figure him out, I don't care what happens to him. If you're so worried about his death, get over it. I saw some implants on his chest. Mess with those or something. Figure out how he's so intelligent, and when we can test the chemicals again, _test the chemicals again._"

A few moments passed before she saw the man leave the room and head over to the examination table. She watched in horrified anticipation as he picked up a scalpel, and brought it down to Rocket's chest. Moments later, she heard him cry out in pain.

But something was wrong.  
He wasn't doing anything else. She stared at him as he cringed and shook his head a little, and her eyes only widened in confusion as she watched him gently pull the scalpel out of the raccoon's chest and set it quietly back onto the tray next to him, still shaking his head.

. . .

Peter kept watch as Skye hacked into the system, trying to find something to distract the HYDRA agents with. She sighed as she opened file after file, and eventually leaning back in the chair she was sitting in.

"There's nothing in here that would work…" She turned to Peter when she didn't receive an answer and rolled her eyes when she realized he was listening to music.

"Peter!" she whispered loudly, to which he turned to her and tore his headphones off. "What?"

She threw her hands at the door. "You're supposed to be – let me see your music player."

He looked down at his Walkman and shook his head. "No way."

She gave him an impatient look. "You wanna save him or not? I have an idea, and I wanna use your… what is that, a portable cassette player?"

He took it off his belt and handed it to her carefully. "A Walkman. And you'd better be careful with that thing."

She shrugged and took it, somehow hooking it up with the computer and smiling. "This is gonna be good…"

. . .

Melinda looked around, making sure that she was alone before sending Skye the signal on her communication device.

_Found Rocket. _

Moments later, Skye wrote back to her.

_Diversion about 2 start. Let them know its time 2 rescue._

And as Melinda began to type out her message to the others, the 'ooga chakas' of Hooked On A Feeling began to blast through the speakers of the building.

**Sorry it's a little short. Please review. :] **


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello again! After a lengthy wait, here's the next chapter. **

**Enjoy.**

Melinda quickly moved to the other side of the doorway as she heard the lead HYDRA scientist groan in frustration. She swiftly removed the comm. unit from her belt and threw it across the doorway and onto the wall on the other side, producing a pleasing _bang_, followed by a loud clatter to the floor. She took out her stun gun and patiently waited.  
Moments later, the woman in the room poked her head out of the doorway in the direction that the comm. unit had hit the wall, but before she could turn around to face her attacker, Melinda shot her in the head, causing the woman's eyes to roll back into her head before falling limply to the ground.

She stepped over her unconscious body and into the room, only to come face-to-face with the other man in the room. He had left the lab when the music began to blare throughout the building, which was sending confused and suspicious HYDRA agents away from their current positions to find the source of the disturbance.  
She pointed her gun at him, who immediately reached over to grab something off of the table next to him, but Melinda was faster. She shot him in the head with the stun gun, and he too fell to the floor, unmoving.

She briskly walked over to lab door, and tried to open in. She clicked her tongue in annoyance when she realized that it was locked, and firmly hit the butt on her gun against the glass, creating a large crack in the window. She gave it another good hit, and the glass shattered onto the floor. She reached in over the broken glass that still clung to the metal frame and unlocked the door, then rushed inside.

Rocket was completely still at this point, and fully unconscious. She cringed at all the wires and tubes attached to him, and immediately tore off the band attached to his head. The machines began to emit sounds as she tore off the other equipment that the HYDRA agents had attached to him, until he was completely free of wiring, tubes, and metal cuffs.  
She gently picked him up off the table and held him close to her; he was still breathing, which meant that he would be okay, although he would no doubt wake up feeling terrible.

She clicked her tongue again in annoyance when she realized that Drax, Groot, and Gamora hadn't shown up yet. She walked outside with Rocket in her arms only to be greeted by the most pleasing yet absurd sight she had seen all day.  
Strewn about all over the floor were HYDRA agents, most likely dead. Some were killed quickly and mercifully, while others obviously died horrible deaths, as their backs were ripped over and their spines seemed to be missing.  
Drax, Gamora, and Groot had been there, and had somehow killed almost every guard in the building. She gave a small smirk, silently wishing she had been there to witness it. As she continued down the hallways, gun ready to shoot, she only saw more bodies. As the music changed from one song to the next, she heard the sound of grunting and fighting. She kept going down the hall until she reached the source.  
Drax was strangling a HYDRA agent with one hand, and effortlessly throwing him into the ground. He turned around to face her and seemed about to do the same when he realized it was Melinda. His angry glare immediately softened upon seeing Rocket in her arms. He gave her a small nod, possibly of appreciation, and left down the hall to where the others probably were.  
She followed him, and looked on in calm admiration at Groot and Gamora, who were finishing off the remaining HYDRA agents.

She heard footsteps behind her, and immediately turned around to shoot whoever was coming up from behind them, but lowered her gun when she saw it was none other than Peter and Skye.

"You guys okay?" Melinda nodded, and froze when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Gamora looking at her with gratitude and expectancy.  
"Thank-you", she said quietly. "For saving our friend."  
Melinda nodded and turned around fully to place Rocket into her arms, who gently took him and held him close. Her eyes were strained with sadness and concern for her comrade, but her face remained emotionless as they walked out of the building.

"There was no … permanent damage done, correct?"  
Everyone in the room looked up and over at Melinda expectantly, hoping she had the answer. She had been in the room when the doctors had done some painless tests on the raccoon to ensure he wouldn't die, and she had the results.  
"No. There were a lot of strange chemicals in his blood, but they only induced temporary effects. "  
There was a sigh of relief around the room.  
"What about the information they collected?" Skye questioned. "All of the results, the tests…?"  
Melinda shook her head.  
"As far as I know, any information HYDRA had gathered from the tests remains intact, unless someone hacked into their database and terminated it all."

A doctor walked out from the door and nodded.  
"He's stable."  
The Guardians stood up and made their way toward the door, while Skye and Melinda dutifully stayed put.

Upon entering the room, the Guardians were greeted with a small bundle of fur underneath large, white sheets. They slowly gathered around the bed and immediately froze when they heard their smallest member groan. Moments later, his eyes slowly opened, and he looked around the room tiredly.

"… G'Root?"

"I am Groot."

He suddenly fell silent again, and his eyes slipped closed. He was completely exhausted. Gamora reached out and tenderly ran a hand down across his head, to which he did not even stir.

"He'll be okay," Peter said quietly. "He's a tough little bastard."

"Keeping vigil over a fallen comrade in protocol in my culture. I will remain here until our furred friend awakens," Drax said.  
All nodded, and Peter left the room. It reminded him too much of the night his mother died, and the fact that he was on Earth didn't make it any better.  
Groot sensed Peter's discomfort, and reluctantly left the room to hopefully comfort Peter. Gamora left a while later, leaving Drax alone in the room with Rocket.

When Peter came into the room, Skye looked up in hope. "Is he awake?"  
Peter shrugged. "He _was _awake, but he fell asleep again."  
"He is exhausted," Gamora chimed in. "He needs rest."

When Rocket finally began to come to hours later, he was greeted with the sound of soft, low singing and a stroking motion across his head. He tiredly opened his eyes and realized that it was Drax.  
"Drax?"  
The singing stopped, and Drax's low voice rumbled as he spoke.  
"Yes, furred one?"  
There was a moment of silence as Drax continued to stroke Rocket's head.  
"… Earth sucks."

When the Guardians finally left Earth, Peter was nearly in tears. He wanted to leave, but at the same time, he wanted to stay. His team was in danger, however, and they couldn't risk staying another minute. Skye and Melinda said their good-byes, and after vowing to never speak of the events to anyone other than SHIELD agents, watched as the Milano took off into the sky.  
Skye looked down at her comm. unit, and smiled.

It was still Rocket-built.

**That's it! I **_**hated **_**how I ended it, but I'm terrible at ending things. I feel like the SHIELD characters went way off course in this chapter, but I kept going. **

**Thanks for reading!**


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